Elected leaders, union oppose job transfers

Several Albany County elected leaders will join union officials tomorrow protesting state plans to move hundreds of jobs from the county to sites near Utica and Geneva.

State Sen. Neil Breslin, Assemblyman John McEneny and County Executive Michael Breslin — all Democrats — will join members of the Public Employees Federation on the steps of the Capitol at 11 a.m.

They oppose a plan to consolidate four state data-processing centers in Albany County to a new facility to be built in Marcy. That site was a runner-up to Malta for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s planned $3.2 billion chip-fabrication plant, and many see the state’s decision to move potentially 200 data-processing jobs to Oneida County as a consolation prize.

They also said the state plans to move dozens of scientists from a food-testing lab in Albany to Geneva.

Union officials say the moves will waste millions in taxpayer dollars, and put consumer safety at risk. PEF is the state’s second largest union of public employees, with about 17,000 members in the Capital Region.

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[...] Ag-itated & Teched Off October 2, 2006 at 6:18 pm by Jay Jochnowitz, State Editor One of our sister blogs, The Buzz, which covers business, reports on plans by the Public Employees Federation and various Capital Region elected officials to hold a news conference Tuesday protesting state plans to move hundreds of jobs to sites near Utica and Geneva. [...]